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Monday, April 25, 2016

Brain implant helps quadriplegic man move again

For most of us,
movement is easy. We think about an action, and our limbs instantly
follow our brain’s command. But for people like 24-year-old Ian
Burkhart of Dublin, Ohio, something (often a spinal injury) has
interrupted that line of communication. That’s why Burkhart and others
who have quadriplegia experience loss of motor functions: the connection
between brain and limbs has been broken.

But researchers are now
working on a way to bypass the need for that connection entirely, and
Burkhart has been helping. Two years ago a chip was implanted in
Burkhart’s brain, and it is capable of reading the activity of several
hundred neurons inside his motor cortex—the
part of his brain that controls hand movement. An external computer
then interprets that activity, and in turn sends signals to a sleeve of
130 electrodes that Burkhart wore around his right arm, enabling
different muscles in his arm to contract or be stimulated at his
command.

It was not an instant or easy process. The computer
that interprets brain activity had to be taught to essentially interpret
a kind of human thought, a complicated process that took many hours.
Burkhart had three sessions each week for 15 months of learning how to
use the sleeve and how to think in a way that the computer could
understand, sessions which he described
as initially mentally exhausting, fatiguing, and like seven-hour
exams. To make his hand and arm move again, he noted that he had to
break down each part of the motion and think about it in a more
concentrated way, a process he says he took for granted before the accident that left him unable to move his arms and legs.

Still, even with all the work, Burkhart still enjoyed having some of his motor function back. He’s been able to pour from a glass, move objects, and swipe a credit card. A woman in 2012 was able to move a robotic arm using her thoughts, but this is the first example of so-called “limb reanimation” in a quadriplegic patient. Burkhart believes it is more natural and intuitive, since he can see his own hand responding to his thoughts.

Doctors admit that it will be at least a decade
before technology like this will be available outside of a lab. There
are several hurdles to overcome, including the need for a chip that can
listen to more neurons, as well as a more portable computer to interpret
the signals. As for right now, funding for the project is set to run
out later this year, forcing Burkhart to relinquish his newly gained abilities. It will be difficult for him, he said,
as he enjoyed it so much. But he is hopeful that with enough people
working on the project, he will someday be able to use it outside,
which, he says, could really improve his quality of life.